Demolishing houses--and peace

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon launched a new round of housing demolitions in Palestinian areas this week.

Wrecking cranes on Monday pulled down 14 homes under construction in disputed East Jerusalem at the edge of the poor, crowded Shuafat refugee camp.

On Tuesday, Israel moved tanks and bulldozers into a Palestinian refugee camp at Rafah in the Gaza Strip and knocked down up to 24 houses and 11 shops, according to Palestinian figures. The incursion by Israeli troops touched off one of the fiercest gun battles since a truce was reached June 13.

When will Israel recognize that this is no way to peace?

As Israel struggles for legitimacy in the eyes of the international community, the policy of housing demolitions creates nothing but a self-inflicted wound. Naturally, it angers Palestinians. It also sends an image to the rest of the world of a cold and callous Israel rousting people from their homes and businesses.

With a fragile Mideast cease-fire teetering on the edge of failure, these actions by Israel are nothing but a provocation.

For Palestinians, Israel's demolishing of their homes in Israeli-occupied areas amounts to a destructive series of attacks on civilians in contravention of international law--depriving Palestinian men, women and children of their homes, dignity and human rights.

Israeli officials say there are good reasons for the demolitions. They claim the homes in Shuafat were built without the required housing permits. Of course--the Israelis rarely issue such permits in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel and the Palestinians claim the city as their capital, and the demolition policy reinforces the Palestinian view that Israel is determined to limit Palestinian numbers in--and their claims to--the Holy City.

The Israeli military argued that the structures destroyed in Gaza were uninhabited and used by Palestinian gunmen to fire on an Israeli army post on the Egyptian border. But that raises the question why Israel is still occupying parts of the Gaza Strip and needlessly putting soldiers at risk to defend a small handful of settlers there.

Since the current intifada erupted, Israel has leveled 500 Palestinian homes, human rights groups say. They estimate that since 1967, Israel has demolished some 7,000 Palestinian houses.

It is a firmly rooted principle of international law that an occupying power cannot alter the status of occupied territory until there is a political settlement. True, Israel's offer to remove some Jewish settlers from such areas was rejected a year ago at Camp David by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who opted instead for a violent uprising.

But this is not a case of bulldozers versus bombers. Knocking down Palestinian dwellings does nothing but damage Israel's international standing and weaken its chances for long-term peace and security.